A three-member civil service trial board on Thursday upheld the firing of a former 911 call taker who was dismissed in the case of a woman slain while calling 911 last year.

Angelia Herod-Graham, who asked that a civil service trial board reinstate her, did not take the Aug. 17, 2012, call from the victim, Deanna Cook. But two days later she answered the call from Cook’s family members, who were requesting that officers be sent to Cook’s home because she was missing.

“I did what I was trained to do,” Graham said, adding that she felt Dallas Police Chief David Brown had unfairly disciplined her for the failures of the police officers who responded to Cook’s original call.

“I am a scapegoat,” Graham said.

In a recording of the Aug. 19 call, Cook’s mother could be heard telling Graham that her daughter had been missing for two days. Graham repeatedly told family members that they would have to check the jails and hospitals before police could be sent.

Family members told Graham that water was coming out of the home. Cook’s mother asked Graham if someone could just help them get into the house. Graham said police couldn’t do that, and she gave family members a number for the Dallas County Jail. A family member then kicked in Cook’s door.

“It stinks in here,” a family member said, at which point Graham said police would be sent.

“Oh, my God. She’s in the tub,” a family member screamed.

During the hearing, Graham denied there was an unnecessary delay in sending the police. She testified that early in the call, there were no indications the situation was urgent.

But police commanders testified that Graham violated procedures requiring that calls be entered without “unnecessary delay.” They said she should have filed a call sheet requesting that police conduct a welfare check.

Graham contended that she was being unfairly penalized for something she could not have known about: the contents of the call that Cook made to 911 two days earlier. On that call, Cook could be heard choking and pleading for her life. But a call taker didn’t pass along critical details about the call to dispatchers. Officers got to the scene 50 minutes after the call and left when no one answered the door.

Brown testified that he based his decision to fire Graham on her actions in the Cook case and on two prior incidents in which she had been disciplined for mishandling 911 calls.

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